Alan Wilson

Alan McCrory Wilson (born Alan McCrory; July 16, 1973) is an American lawyer, politician, and military officer who has served as the 51st attorney general of South Carolina since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.

The adopted son of U.S. Representative Joe Wilson, he attended Francis Marion University and the University of South Carolina School of Law. He serves as a colonel in the South Carolina National Guard and worked as an attorney in Columbia before being elected attorney general in 2010. As attorney general, Wilson has litigated to block same-sex marriage, invalidate the Affordable Care Act, challenge environmental regulations, defend anti-abortion laws, and prohibit masking and vaccine requirements. He has advocated against cannabis decriminalization and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Wilson is the Republican nominee for governor of South Carolina in the 2026 election.

Early life and education Wilson was born Alan McCrory on July 16, 1973 in West Columbia, South Carolina. His father, Michael Alan McCrory, was an Army captain and Vietnam veteran who died in a military training exercise at Fort Bragg when Wilson was two years old. His mother, Roxanne Dusenbury McCrory, later married Joe Wilson, who currently serves as the U.S. representative for . Joe Wilson adopted Alan when he was three years old, and Alan subsequently took his surname. Along with his three brothers, Alan is an Eagle Scout.

Wilson graduated from Francis Marion University, where he joined Pi Kappa Alpha through the Theta Delta chapter, in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He later received a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2002.

Wilson joined the South Carolina National Guard in 1996 after finishing his undergraduate studies. He currently serves as a colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

Legal career Wilson interned in the South Carolina Attorney General's office under Charlie Condon. After law school, he worked for Judge Marc H. Westbrook of the South Carolina Circuit Court. Wilson later served as an assistant solicitor and as an assistant attorney general in South Carolina. In 2009, he moved to the private sector and started working at the law firm Willoughby & Hoefer in Columbia, South Carolina.

Political career Attorney General of South Carolina

Henry McMaster did not run for re-election as Attorney General, choosing instead to run for governor to succeed term-limited incumbent Mark Sanford. Wilson won the Republican nomination in a runoff election on June 22, 2010, receiving 60 percent of the vote against his opponent Leighton Lord. Wilson defeated Democratic nominee Matthew Richardson in the general election.

Wilson was re-elected in 2014, defeating the Democratic nominee, Parnell Diggs.

Wilson was again re-elected to a third term in 2018. In the contentious Republican primary, Wilson faced two challengers for renomination, state Representative Todd Atwater and attorney William Herlong of Greenville. Both challengers focused on ethics issues, criticizing Wilson for his connections to the Quinns, who reached a plea deal after being embroiled in a Statehouse corruption investigation. In the initial Republican primary, Wilson received 48.6%, Atwater received 29.7%, and Herlong received almost 22%; because no candidate received a majority, the nomination was decided by a primary runoff election. Although Herlong endorsed Atwater in the runoff, On June 23, 2025, Wilson formally announced his candidacy. Wilson, along with his running mate, state Senator Mike Reichenbach, received 26.2% of the vote, placing second in the gubernatorial primary to Lt. Governor Pamela Evette. However, no candidate received a majority, resulting in a runoff on June 23, 2026, in which Wilson defeated Evette.

Political views Abortion A staunch opponent of abortion, Wilson defended a state law banning most abortions in South Carolina from a constitutional challenge. In 2021, Wilson joined a U.S. Supreme Court filing calling on the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

COVID-19 pandemic

Wilson was one of 20 Republican state attorneys general who claimed that a portion of President Biden's COVID-19 relief package (specifically, a provision that states could not redirect federal stimulus money to reduce state tax rates) was unconstitutional.

In August 2021, ahead of the start of the 2021–2022 school year and amid an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the state, Wilson said that the University of South Carolina could not implement indoor mask requirements for campus access. Wilson contended that a proviso (a type of state budget measure) passed by the General Assembly earlier that year prohibited such a mandate. After Wilson's intervention, the university dropped the requirement. However, later the same month, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that rejected Wilson's interpretation,

Drug policy In January 2019, Wilson described cannabis as "the most dangerous drug, because it is the most misunderstood drug" in the United States while denouncing legislation that would allow physicians to prescribe medical marijuana for patients. Wilson was one of 16 state attorneys general who did not support the SAFE Banking Act, which permitted the use of the banking system by cannabis-related businesses in states and territories in which cannabis is legal.

Wilson is the respondent of an ongoing lawsuit which alleges that Wilson and SLED denied a farmer due process when they destroyed his hemp farm.

Environmental policy In 2021, Wilson joined a Republican lawsuit challenging President Biden's order directing federal agencies to consider the costs of greenhouse gas pollution in making decisions. Wilson also joined another lawsuit challenging Biden's decision to revoke the federal permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, an oil pipeline project 1,000 miles from South Carolina.

Healthcare Wilson supported lawsuits to invalidate the Affordable Care Act.

Immigration In July 2017, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led a group of Republican attorneys general from nine other states, including Wilson, plus Idaho Governor Butch Otter, in threatening that they would litigate against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy that had been put into place by President Barack Obama.

Same-sex marriage In 2014, Wilson asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to block the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the state. Wilson waged an exhaustive legal fight to block same-sex marriage in South Carolina, and in 2015, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ordered Wilson to pay more than $134,000 in attorneys' fees to plaintiffs who successfully challenged the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

Controversies Investigation of campaign contributions In 2013, Wilson self-reported his campaign failed to report at least 84 contributions and expenditures on required public reports. In February 2013, Wilson originally admitted his campaign failed to disclose and report receiving at least 15 separate contributions of unknown amounts. A further investigation in March 2013 revealed at least 68 unreported contributions and 16 unreported expenditures. As the errors were self-reported and the reports were subsequently re-filed, Wilson faced no penalties.

False election-fraud claims On January 12, 2012, Wilson falsely claimed on Fox News that "We found out that there were over 900 people who died and then subsequently voted. That number could be even higher than that."

Corruption investigation

In late 2013, a State Law Enforcement Division report focusing on former state House Speaker House Bobby Harrell was transferred to the AG's office. The report mentioned state representatives Rick Quinn Sr. and Rick Quinn Jr. suggesting misconduct by the younger Quinn. In early 2014, Wilson recused himself from the investigation and appointed David Pascoe, the solicitor for the 1st Judicial Circuit, as special prosecutor. Harrell pleaded guilty and resigned from the House in late 2014. Pascoe urged the AG's Office to investigate the Quinns.

In March 2016, after Pascoe continued to use the state grand jury to investigate possible corruption in the General Assembly, Wilson attempted to fire Pascoe, triggering a political firestorm in the state. Adam Piper, a Wilson aide, launched a secret effort to smear Pascoe. Pascoe challenged Wilson's attempt to fire him, arguing that the attorney general could not do so after previously recusing himself on the grounds of a conflict of interest. Ultimately, the younger Rick Quinn resigned from office and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, while the elder Quinn agreed to testify before the state grand jury, and his consulting firm pleaded guilty to failing to register as a lobbyist. The investigation and the report focused in part on Wilson's close ties to Richard Quinn, a prominent Republican political strategist in the state, and his son Rick Quinn Jr., who had been a member of the state House. Wilson had paid the elder Quinn's firm more than $220,000 for political strategy services in two election campaigns. Wilson (second from the right) with other Attorney Generals at a White House Meeting on Protecting Consumers from Social Media Abuse, 2020.

Efforts to challenge 2020 presidential election outcome

In December 2020, Wilson joined a lawsuit by 16 Republican state attorneys general urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, specifically by challenging Joe Biden's victory in four states. The suit was based on Donald Trump's false claim of election fraud. He said he was "completely unaware" of the Republican Attorneys General Association robocalls; the group's executive director, a former Wilson aide Adam Piper, resigned.

Personal life Wilson and his wife, Jennifer (née Miskewicz), a former WIS-TV news reporter, have two children. Wilson joined the South Carolina National Guard in 1996 and received the Combat Action Badge for service in Iraq.

Electoral history